The recognition of indigenous peoples' rights in the context of area protection and management in the Arctic

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Master's Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: 9,5 ETCS, , course: Master Programm „Polar Law“, Recht der Polarregionen (Arktis und Antarktis), language: English, abstract: The issue of increased human activities in the context of area protection andmanagement is of very high relevance, specifically with respect to the Arctic. Dueto climate change, which continues to be widespread in the Arctic, and in somecases, dramatic, new prospects for economic development arise. Reduced sea ice,for example, is very likely to increase marine transport and access to resources.At the same time, the region is faced with numerous environmental challengeslike those of projected shifting of vegetation zones and wide-ranging impacts onanimal species' diversity, ranges, and distribution. On the base of thesedevelopments, it is very likely that interests of maximum resource extraction andenergy production conflict with those of keeping the environment pristine. Inconsequence, “an extension of natural reserves/wilderness parks both on land andat sea might need to be considered as the price for letting local populations andincomers enjoy more unrestrained development in the remaining areas”.The Arctic is home to many indigenous peoples, including reindeer herders,hunters, fishermen and nomads. They all share one common feature: theirdependency on a healthy environment to support their livelihoods and chosenways of life. They are the descendants of peoples who followed the retreating icecap in Europe, spread out over northern Siberia and the Russian Far East, andcrossed the Bering Strait some 4,000 years ago or more. Indigenous peoples areparticularly impacted by climate change because of their cultural and physicaldependence on the environment, and their frequent lack of access to the resourcesnecessary to avoid the impacts of detrimental changes in their environment. Insuch a situation they might find themselves in the middle of those conflictinginterests described above: on the one hand, defending their environment fromexternal desirousness and from this point of view supporting the designation ofcertain areas as especially protected for their livelihoods, on the other hand,having an interest to participate in economic developments and to be engaged inthe exploration of natural resources. Against this background, indigenouspeoples' rights are of important significance in the context of area protection andmanagement in the Arctic.[...]